


notes

by AndTheAsterBloomsGorgeously



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Diary/Journal, Gen, Horror, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23819923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndTheAsterBloomsGorgeously/pseuds/AndTheAsterBloomsGorgeously
Summary: A series of diary entries written by esteemed Mitakihara Middle School senior, Arima Shinki.
Kudos: 6





	1. M16-1

There’s a disturbance in the timeline.  
  


* * *

  
**Entry One**  
**March 16th**  
  
People might say that they’d never expect someone like me to keep a diary. And they’d be right. The calm and collected Arima Shinki, writing in a little diary like some kind of common schoolgirl? There’d be scandalous rumors all over school. Not so stoic after all, right? There would be giggling for days. Oh, and the rumors - dreadful. When the mill turns, it just doesn’t stop. And with one of the bigger names caught up in it? All of those rumors would follow me to the grave.  
  
So what, then, could drive me to begin writing in this old book? What I’m writing in now is an ancient hardback diary that was given to me on my ninth birthday. Hardback. In the current decade! I still remember the tantrum I threw when I got it back then. Not really one of my proudest moments, but I grew out of that bratty phase just in time for my entry into middle school.  
  
Anyway. It took me a long time to find this old thing, so I’ll stop going off track.  
  
Last night, I had a dream. Which is rather strange, since I sleep early and maintain a healthy sleep schedule, unlike that idiot Michiru, going up to 3am texting her boyfriend. Dreamless sleep is the norm for me. But dreams by themselves don’t warrant me writing them down. It’d have to be something extraordinary, right? Something noteworthy. Why would I write down any old dream?  
  
It’s infuriating, really. I don’t remember much of it - just scattered little fragments that are surprisingly persistent. But there’s this sureness in my chest that I can’t really explain - sureness that whatever it was, it’s important. Critically important to me.  
  
So, what I do remember… well, it’s fragmented too. I remember dark clouds, howling winds and floating buildings, punctuated with pearls of thunder ringing in my ears. That alone marked it out as something different. My dreams are usually about winning big in the lottery and living a life in pure luxury, never needing to go to school again.  
  
Yes, the workaholic wants to take a break. Sue me.  
  
When I looked up, I could see the shadow of something in the sky. The shape was strange, because it kept shifting, and there were flashes of purple light in the clouds every now and then. But that wasn’t the strange part. The weirdest part was this feeling that felt like the entire world was pressing down on my shoulders. A feeling that basically screamed ‘you’re not supposed to be here’...  
  
And bam, I woke up. Shot up in my bed, breathing heavily and sweating. Let me tell you, that is the first time ever that such a thing’s happened to me. It’s been ten minutes since I woke up, and it’s still one of the most vivid things I can remember. Even now, I’m getting the shakes just thinking about it.  
  
Worse still, I get a massive pain in the back of my head if I just try to think about it. Trying to dredge up details is useless; all that nets me is free pain. And that’s no good at all. I know, in my heart of hearts, that it’s important to me somehow, but I can’t remember anything beyond those details. So that’s why I’m writing it down.   
  
I’m not sure if this is a one-off thing, or some kind of prophetic vision. But I’ll keep it in here, just in case I have something like that again, and... I guess for when I need to vent. Writing this out's surprisingly therapeutic.  
  
I just hope that it’s not a sign of some great cataclysm hitting Mitakihara. That would be terrible.  
  
_-Arima Shinki_


	2. M17-1

**Entry Two**

**March 17th**  
  
I’m back. Today was a mostly unremarkable day. No weird dreams, no shakes, nothing.

It was sunny, no clouds, and I was due for my regularly scheduled trip to the hospital after school to visit Uncle Shinji. School was nothing special, but I had to suffer for the entirety of lunch, since Michiru decided that it was a good day to brag. 

Brag about what, you say? Brag about how she was just about ready to move to second base with her boyfriend. Good for her, but I’m not interested in trivial bullshit like what base she’s on with her boyfriend, or how her cup size has gone up, and a dozen other things that I can’t be bothered naming. Yui’s guilty of this shit, too; she announced that she managed to snag Namiyo from 3-B, and  that led to another wave of bragging and pointed questions about when they’ll reach first base.  
  
Is this what relationships do? Cause people to only be capable of communicating if the topic was about their newly found boyfriend or girlfriend? It’s real irritating. At least Asuka and Chitose didn’t follow in their footsteps, otherwise lunch would become unbearable. I can already see it now - shittalking me for not having a boyfriend, talking about ‘fun times’ - _disgusting_.  
  
At least the topic moved to another, less annoying one. The mighty Tomoe Mami added another notch to her belt today after she shot down the self-styled ‘king of the seniors’, Tanaka Hisoka. The grapevine worked real quick to spread the word, and there was only so much his buddies could do to try and mitigate it. Watching that smug bastard look absolutely devastated made my day. 

The hospital visit was nothing out of the ordinary,  but I did spot someone from Mitakihara Middle School. She had the uniform on and a mop of blue hair and was on the same floor as Uncle Shinji’s room. Saw her going down the hall to the other kid’s room - the one that had an accident. Left his arm shattered or something - I wasn’t really listening too much to the nurses’ gossiping.  
  
Uncle Shinji was doing alright, though. I can (and probably will) never understand how that man managed to get himself t-boned by a truck and come out with only a broken leg and ribs, but mom says he’s survived worse. He himself told me it was his yakuza training that helped him survive. Pinched his cheek for that, the cheeky old man. None of the yakuza would take someone as spindly as he is. Luckily, he’s going to be discharged from hospital on the 25th, so I won’t have to report back to mom and dad  and suffer from his jokes.  
  
The only major mark of today was that the news decided to do what it did best when they weren’t talking about the upcoming elections or foreign stuff - deliver bad news. Apparently, there was a case of a suicide near the industrial area on the other side of the river. A middle-aged dude. News said that he’d stabbed himself to death with a knife and let himself bleed out. Of course, they’d censored the scenes, but it didn’t make me feel less queasy. I can’t imagine going out like that.  
  
Thing was, dad knew him from work. Worse still, he told us that he talked to him today and was perfectly normal. No outward sign of stress. He had a wife, kids, the whole package. Dad said that his wife and kids were the things that he talked about the most on lunch break. Had a big smile and everything whenever he preached about how his kid was getting good grades and other ‘proud parent' stuff. Of course, he got shit for it, but it was all in good fun. So now dad’s just staring into the wall while mom’s hovering near him. At least, that’s what I saw before I went up to my room and started writing in here.  
  
I wrote ‘us’, but it was just me and Aoi. My stupid brother’s off messing around in the arcade or at his friends’ house. Mom’s done her best to try and rein him in, but Hiroto inherited her stubbornness. Not to mention he’s an absolute asshole who thinks dallying around and beating up people from other high schools makes him cool and that he'll get women swarming all over him because he's a bad boy who doesn't back down from a fight.

Whatever. I think I’ll just turn in for the night. Dwelling on the suicide makes me feel queasy, and thinking about Hiroto just pisses me off.

\- _Arima Shinki_


	3. M18-1

**Entry Three**

**March 18th**

**  
**Today, school was positively abuzz about the suicide. Mitakihara’s a sleepy little town. There’s the odd disappearance here and there, along with suicides, but nothing as positively grisly as what was reported last night. Whole new slew of people fearmongering with stupid chain-mail bullshit. 'Pass this message on, or you will kill yourself when the ghost possesses your body’ - what a joke. Shit like that’s all designed to get your hackles up for a bit, and then you’ll promptly forget about it in a few days because _wow none of it’s real!_   
  
Of course, my friends were all enamored with the new chain-mail rumor, being the superstitious lot they are. _Un_ fortunately, the group expanded with the addition of Namiyo and Michiru’s boyfriend, Makoto, so I had to listen to them harp on about how _they_ didn’t believe it and how they’d protect their girlfriends from ‘evil spirits’. While cuddling. And getting touchy-feely in front of my eyes. ** Disgusting.** Michiru even had this utterly smug look on her face that she shot me when Makoto gave her a kiss on her cheek. ‘Oh hey, I have a boyfriend and _you_ don’t!’ 

Like I give two shits about that, you stupid airhead. I swear, ever since she managed to hook up with Makoto, she’d grown entirely insufferable. Yui isn’t a raging asshole when _she’s_ with her boyfriend. I can’t tell if Michiru is still pissy that her crush from our first year ended up liking me over her, or if she’s always hated me from the beginning of school. I don’t know. She’s always been a bit hungry for attention, I know that much. Being part of the ‘popular’ groups in the third year really made her shine. 

Still don’t know why people think our little group’s something to worship, but whatever. I don’t care. Asuka, Chitose, Yui and I are going to Mitakihara High School after this year, and Michiru’s gonna piss off to Kamihama, since her parents found work there. Out of sight, out of mind.  
  
Oh, yeah. When I stopped by the hospital today, I managed to catch that blue-haired junior on the same elevator. Or, rather, she managed to catch up to me. We exchanged a few details - her name’s Miki Sayaka, and she was visiting a boy named Kamijo Kyosuke - before we made our separate ways. It was a bit awkward, since Miki recognized me _on sight_ as one of the more popular seniors and couldn’t stop stuttering, but I managed. Hope that Kamijo kid’s healing up alright, though - the nurses’ gossip wasn’t far off, and apparently he’s got no fine motor control over his arm. That’s gotta suck.   
  
Uncle Shinji’s thoughts on the suicide were the same, though. Offered a little prayer for the family, and wondering what could’ve driven a man like that to killing himself. He laughed his ass off when I told him about the chain-mail bullshit that was spreading through the school, though. At the cost of a few wheezes and some pain. It’s nice to know that Uncle Shinji’s still as jolly as he was before the crash.

He _does_ complain about Aunt Miku pulling his cheeks for making a joke about his condition, but frankly, that's just karma for saying that shit in front of his wife. I’m sure she’s not actually mad, just glad that he’s alive, if understandably pissed with his cavalier attitude. Aunt Miku's probably relieved that my nephew will still have his dad by the time he’s born.

Asuka called me up a few minutes ago, said she wanted to have a girls’ night over at her house. Managed to secure her parents’ permission for it, so I won’t be putting anything in here tomorrow. Yui  will demand to see what I’ve written in here. So will Asuka and Chitose. Michiru might try to take photos of it while I’m asleep, I’m sure of it. If she decides to come, that is.

Fuck that noise.   
  
Well, nothing else is worth noting today. I’ve had a bit of a headache ever since I had that stupid dream, though. I’ve powered on through it, and it seems to be receding. For now. I’ve got a feeling that something might happen soon. 

When? I don’t know. But it’ll come. But when it does, it’ll be the longest day of my life.

- _Arima Shinki_


	4. M20-1

**Entry Four**

******March 20th**

******  
**I would’ve gone and lounged around in my house after the night over at Asuka’s house, but I wanted to go and hit the mall with Yui and Aoi. It’s been way too long since the three of us managed to go out and do stuff together without Michiru, Asuka and Chitose showing up. Asuka and Chitose are fine, don’t get me wrong - it’s just that Yui’s been my friend for much, much longer than they have. Special childhood friend privileges. They’ll get there eventually.

Michiru can go jump off a ledge.

It was pretty pleasant, really. Sure, I had to suffer a bit when Yui gushed about her boyfriend to Aoi, who ate all that shit up with glee, but it’s fine.The gushing accounted for a very small portion of the little trip. We talked about school, upcoming tests, general gossip, how her parents were doing overseas, and all that good stuff. She confided that Michiru vented about how I was ‘treating her like shit’, though. I don’t know how you can get that from my stony face, but it’s almost like she grew a brain. It’s amazing - she finally realised that I really,  really  didn’t care for her opinions. Of course, neither of us would say anything about it. The status quo’s fine. If Michiru wants to break that, she’ll have to be the one to do it. I certainly won’t.  
  
Speaking of idiots - Tanaka Hisoka was at the mall today. Mr ‘I got rejected by Tomoe Mami’ was sulking around in the food court with another girl. Being  somewhat observant, he’d spotted the three of us and made to move away, only to be stopped by the girl.

Because coincidences happen at the worst possible time for me, that girl was Tanaka Risa. The Risa that Aoi gushed about so much. Her best friend at elementary school. So there we were, sitting opposite each other while Risa and Aoi chattered happily two seats over, having a little staring contest and hoping that one of us would disappear or break the silence first. Hisoka hit on both of us back in the day, but Yui shut him down with her usual aplomb, and I just told him to shut the fuck up and go find someone else who was willing to listen to his drivel. His rep took a pretty big hit because of those, and it was only through some crazy hard work on his grades and hitting on more doormats that he managed to at  least  live up to his self-proclaimed title of ‘king of the seniors’. 

Luckily, Hisoka was weaker, and he gave in first, choosing to needle me a bit about Aoi. I got the sense that he cared for his little sister, which was… pretty surprising, quite frankly, considering that it’s  Hisoka.  So I decided to loosen up a bit. Tried to not be a dick, especially when both our little sisters were watching. It paid off; the three of us managed to hold a somewhat pleasant conversation about family.  
  
He had to go, though. Dragged Risa with him, but not before the kid managed to snag a meetup at our house to do homework or some shit. Yui had to go as well, citing piano practice, which left me adrift for a bit at the mall, while Aoi dragged me around places. I can’t believe that Hisoka’s a better talker than fucking Michiru - is she supposed to be the lowest bar on the ladder or something? Holy fuck.  
  
Anyway, there’s not much else I can talk about here. Spent most of the day there. Oh, but I did manage to snag Miki again. Found her trawling through the music store at the mall with her friend. Found myself introduced to one Kaname Madoka; pretty nice, if super shy. Though that might be just the height - I’m just shy of my dad’s height. Pleasant conversation about music ensued; Aoi got acquainted with the two of them, and Sayaka was all over her. It’s a bit embarrassing, being praised for having a ‘cute little sister’ but whatever. They seem like good people; maybe I'll invite them to hang out sometime.

As for home affairs, dad gave me a heads up - Aunt Miki’s gonna come visit tomorrow, so he wants me to go and help him with baking the cake that she really likes. Otherwise, not much to say. I did have a sort of… _off_ feeling when I passed by some apartments, but it was probably nothing. 

- _Arima Shinki_


End file.
